Ann “Athena” Osman is in a class of one – she is female, Muslim, Malaysian, and one of the biggest stars in One Championship, the biggest MMA promotion in Asia. Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com spoke with Osman, ahead of her fight with Walaa Abbas on Friday at One Championship 25.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey recently landed in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, wearing not much more than nothing in some shots.
“I don’t think it’s something that they have to do, but if they want to do it, then it’s fine with me,” said Osman. “I don’t see anything wrong for them to do it. For myself, I’m really just focused on other stuff. That’s not something I feel I need to do in order to market myself.”
Osman is regularly referred to as beautiful in Asian media, which she is. But that is not her goal.
“That’s not really what I want,” she said. “But I understand the media has different angles to market their magazines and papers. If that’s what they want to write, that’s what they’re going to write. For me, doing photo shoots is my way of cooperating with the media. If I felt like it was out of line, then I would say no. If I think it’s OK, I go with it. It’s not something I feel obliged to do.”
“People write, ‘Oh she’s not a real Muslim, she’s not wearing a hijab, she’s wearing shorts, she’s fighting — she’s not a real Muslim.’ It hurts, but I can only shake it off. It doesn’t really mean anything to me. As long as I’m happy in doing what I do, that’s all that matters.”
“To me, my relationship with God is personal and doesn’t have anything to do with other people. I’m pretty confident in what I do. As long as my family gives their blessing, that’s all that matters to me. They’re the most important. I really am focused on what I’m doing and it’s something I really want to do and achieve. I don’t see it as a problem. I don’t really care what people think.”
Ronda Rousey serves as an impressive role model for girls, as they can strive to be as girly as they want to be, and they can strive to be more manly than boys – physically beating them. In Malaysia, Osman offers a similar vision of challenging stereotypes, albeit in a more conservative culture.
“It kind of dawned on me made and me realize that what I’m doing actually helps people and what I’m doing actually changes people’s lives,” said Osman. “It just makes me more motivated to be even better.”
“Right now my focus is on getting that belt. When they develop the female division and it warrants them to have that world title, then I’m there. I’ll be there to fight for the title. At the moment, that is my ultimate goal.”
ONE Championship 25: Age of Champions
Stadium Putra
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Main Card (Online pay-per-view, 8 a.m. ET)
Champ Adriano Moraes vs. Asuka Mikami for flyweight title
Peter Davis vs. Rajinder Singh Meena
Walaa Abbas vs. Ann Osman
Cary Bullosvs. Ev Ting
Gianni Subba vs. Thanh Vu
Kirstie Gannaway vs. April Osenio
Ramon Gonzalez vs. Chan Rothana
Reant Fabriza Rainir vs. Agilan Thanix
